Wolff reveals one weakness Bottas needs to improve

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes Valtteri Bottas needs to improve his ability to race in the wake of another car, a weakness highlighted in last Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.

After tyre wear forced Lewis Hamilton to relinquish his role of pursuer of Charles Leclerc in the closing stages of the race, Bottas was entrusted with hunting down the Ferrari driver.

The Finn practically bridged the gap to Leclerc with three laps to go but ran deep into the first chicane, which gave the Monegasque the breathing spaced he needed to secure his second career win in F1.

Bottas had opted for a later switch to the medium compound than Hamilton, but despite running on a fresher set of tyres than his teammate, the Finn said his late race charge took its toll on his rubber.

“I felt the last four laps I had a big drop-off with the medium tyre, so that made it more tricky,” explained Bottas.

“When I got close enough I was having some front locking under braking. Lewis had a similar issue as well, he went straight when I got him.

“From all calculations, to have a proper chance to overtake you need a one second pace difference and I had a maximum of five tenths by the time I got close to Charles.

“It was tricky, I tried everything I could, but it was a bit out of reach today.”